It's another game and the same old story for the Sabres, they seemed to be the better team but they couldn't score. It's easy to say that they played well but reality is a loss is a loss and hitting a goal post doesn't count for a goal. Jochen Hecht hit two goal posts by himself and there was at least one other that I remember. The Sabres did have one shot go into the net but Paul Gaustad was called for goaltender interference and it was disallowed. Leafs net-minder Andrew Raycroft was better than Ryan Miller on this night bottom line.
The game was scoreless until late in the second period when Mats Sundin won a faceoff back to Bryan McCabe who beat Miller. The goal was the game winner and a little bit of vindication for McCabe who scored on his own net in overtime the last time the two teams met. The McCabe goal came after a questionable icing call that very easily could have been waved off. Brian Campbell banked a pass off the boards for Max Afinogenov, the two Leafs defensemen both played Afinogenov and never made an attempt to play the puck.
The Leafs added two goals in the third period both on wrist shots that beat Ryan Miller. The Sabres out-shot the Maple Leafs 30-23 in the game but Andrew Raycroft, with the help of a few goal posts, was able to register the shutout. This was the third time the Sabres have been shutout this season after not being shutout at all last season.
The Sabres will be right back in action on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins in the TD Banknorth Garden. It will be the third time in nine days that the Sabres and Bruins are playing with the each team winning one in overtime.
UPDATE: After listening to the post game comments from Lindy Ruff and the players I have a little bit more to say about the game.
I think the comments from the skaters (Nathan Paetsch & Jochen Hecht) echoed what Lindy Ruff said in his post game press conference, the team played pretty well but somehow were unable to score. They all used the word frustration but said they just have to keep plugging along and their time will come. If you watched the game I think this has to be the outlook at this point.
The comments from Ryan Miller were markedly different. Miller said "I don't even want to talk about the system...we let up a goal on a face-off and guys need to know their assignments" He added "we're getting better but there are still breakdowns...it's hard not to be pissed off".
At some point Ryan Miller needs to look in the mirror. The team played a pretty good game tonight and had the better scoring chances. In my opinion the difference in the game was that Andrew Raycroft was better than Ryan Miller...PERIOD!